Shooting woes derail Torrey Pines in CIF Basketball Regional quarterfinal

There was good news and bad news for the Torrey Pines boys’ basketball team in last Thursday night’s CIF Division I SoCal Regional quarterfinal. Unfortunately, the good news came early and the bad news followed as the fourth-seeded host Falcons were upended, 60-55, by No. 5 seed Windward (LA).

The loss concluded a Torrey Pines’ season that saw Coach John Olive’s club post a 27-6 record, capture the Avocado West League and finish second in the CIF San Diego Open Division championship tournament. A dominant first round decision over 13th-seeded Chaminade was their first regional victory since 2015.

Playing free and easy Torrey Pines basketball, Coach John Olive’s club scored 23 points in the first eight minutes and were up by two after quarter No. 1. The combination of a solid opponent and uncharacteristically poor shooting limited the Falcons to just 32 the remainder of the game.

In his final game at Torrey Pines, senior Brand Angel had a team high 18 points.

(Ken Grosse)

Fueled by 27 points from 6-foot-3 sophomore guard Dylan Andrews, the Windward opened up an eight-point gap in the second quarter and never allowed Torrey Pines to draw even again.

“The second quarter, they played better defense and made a string of threes that allowed them to get some separation,” said Olive. “I thought we were executing our plays and getting good shots—they just didn’t go in.

“They were physical, able to pound it inside and had a very dangerous point guard. We gave them far too many turnovers.”

Falcon junior Nick Herrmann

(Ken Grosse)

Senior Brandon Angel and junior Chris Howell accounted for 18 and 15 points respectively. Sixteen of Angel’s came in the first half, including two first quarter dunks. Torrey Pines connected on just 3-of-9 free throws while Windward was perfect in its 11 trips to the line.

Windward moves on to Saturday’s Regional semi-finals where it will face eighth-seeded Ribet Academy (LA), a 61-58 upset winner of top-seeded Bellflower St. John Bosco.